Sometimes here we have to expand our minds a bit and start drawing up scenarios for potential situations. We don’t usually delve into the fantasy world here but with the chatter growing louder about the possibility of the Atlanta Thrashers being sold to David Thomson’s True North group and moved to Winnipeg we can’t help but get wondering about some things. Mostly, we want to know what happens to how the divisions and teams will be lined up.

If Atlanta moves to Winnipeg there’s no logical way to have Winnipeg be in either the Eastern Conference nor the Southeast Division and with the NHL not being eager to have a mismatched number of teams in each conference, someone in the west would move east. The questions here are who would be the one to move and just how would the divisions be set up? We’ve got some ideas on how things could play out.

You’d have three instant candidates to move to the Eastern Conference: Detroit, Columbus, and Nashville. The easy part of this equation would be what would happen to Winnipeg. The move that makes most sense for them would be to have them slide into the Northwest Division and take the place of the Colorado Avalanche. There they would have a local rivalry with the Minnesota Wild and be lumped in with the three other Canadian teams in the West.

The Avalanche would then jump to the Pacific Division where they would take the place of the Dallas Stars. The Stars would then jump into the Central Division where they would take the place of which ever team between the Wings, Jackets, and Predators that headed East. Of course, which of those teams would go is the part of the hot debate.

Detroit’s case that they would make to go is based upon location. They’re in the Eastern time zone and have historical rivals they could get reacquainted with very quickly in Toronto and Montreal. Travel is a major bugaboo for the Wings when they hit the road. After all, those west coast swings hurt. Red Wings senior vice president Jim Devellano says that a move won’t be happening next season for the Wings, but he hopes the NHL could cut them a break in the future.

What hurts Detroit’s case is their rivalry with Chicago. Red Wings-Blackhawks games are once again a must-see event with lots of their matchups ending up on national television. With both teams being perpetual playoff teams now, there’s a lot of money to be made off of these two teams duking it out a few times a year. Detroit and Chicago also represent the Western Conferences only original six teams. Leaving the Blackhawks on an island by themselves wouldn’t do the league any favors even in spite of Chicago’s budding rivalries with San Jose and Vancouver.

Columbus can make a similar case to Detroit in that they too are in the Eastern time zone. Geographically speaking they’re just a tad further east than Detroit and could develop an instant regional rivalry with Pittsburgh. The Blue Jackets have already asked the NHL about moving to the East so they’re at least on the record. Helping make their case is that Columbus has no real ties to the teams in the West. They’ve got a “rivalry” of sorts with Detroit thanks to locality and divisional ties but that would be traded out easily for Pittsburgh. A move to the East would also help lend a hand to the Blue Jackets to give them a better shot at the playoffs. Let’s face it, the Western Conference is a bit tougher than the East.

Something working against both Detroit and Columbus is that moving them to East throws the divisional setup way out of whack. Both teams would fit in well in the Northeast Division, but who slides out for them? Going by geographical set up, Boston would make sense to have them go to the Atlantic Division… But then someone needs to get out of there to go to the Southeast Division. Philadelphia is the southernmost team there and that doesn’t exactly jive well considering the Flyers’ rivalries with every single other Atlantic Division team. So what next? The logical move.

Nashville has established themselves pretty well in the Western Conference having made the playoffs more often than not over the last few years. They’re also a bit odd in that they’re stuck in a division that’s nasty year in and year out dealing with Detroit and Chicago. Moving Nashville to the Eastern Conference would give them another tough, nasty team and a seamless fit into the Southeast Division.

There they could strike up regional rivalries with a southern flavor with Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Florida. Nashville and Washington battling numerous times a year would provide some nasty and fantastic games. If the NHL wanted to help sell the game more in the south and get some great local rivalries to go with it, this would seem like a no-brainer because it doesn’t upset things quite as much. That move coupled with sliding Dallas into the Central Division where they could reinvigorate rivalries with Detroit and Chicago would give the NHL some dynamic divisional battles.

If this should come to pass with Atlanta getting bought and moved, there will be some tough choices to make here for the NHL. How they choose to go about it will be fascinating to see and how the politics of things play out would provide fodder for future conspiracy theorists. We want to know what you think though. Who do you think would move to the Eastern Conference if the Thrashers head west? Let us know in our poll and in the comments.